With Iranian missile and drone strikes having shuttered Dubai’s Catholic churches through the entirety of Holy Week, the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi released an Easter statement directed at the country’s nationals living and working across the UAE — one of the largest Filipino communities in the Middle East.
The embassy addressed the disruption indirectly, acknowledging “challenges and uncertainties in our region” without naming the conflict explicitly. Its message framed the holiday as an occasion for resilience rather than grievance, noting that the season “reminds us that even in the face of challenges and uncertainties in our region, light can overcome darkness and hope can prevail over hardship.”
Filipinos constitute a significant portion of the Catholic faithful who would ordinarily fill St Mary’s in Oud Metha and St Francis of Assisi in Jebel Ali — Dubai’s only two Catholic parishes — during Easter weekend. Both churches closed on April 3 on government orders and remained shut through Easter Sunday, April 5, with services either moved online or canceled outright.
The embassy’s statement leaned on the particular circumstances of overseas workers, acknowledging that for many Filipinos, the Easter season “reflects the strength, resilience, and deep faith that continue to bind families and communities together across distances.”
Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, had earlier issued his own Easter address, thanking UAE authorities for “ensuring our safety” and calling on the faithful to remain united despite being unable to gather in person. His jurisdiction covers Catholics across the UAE, Oman, and Yemen.
Churches in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah were unaffected by the closure order, with the Apostolic Vicariate confirming that services in those emirates proceeded as scheduled.
